Category: Environment

There are many different cities all around the world. They all are great and interesting places in some way, but still some of the cities are more desirable than others. What are the core processes and benchmarks that can change cities from simple living areas to into superior places? Urban planners have come up with some ideas, so here are some things that makes cities attractive to people.

Most important factor that determinate the status and image of the city, of course, is economic. It is no wonder that people are willing to move to the cities which have the faster economic growth, because that means great job opportunities and high living standards. People has always been looking for a better, easier life and fastest way how to get that is by choosing a place where everything of that is accessible without hard work.

But fast growing economic is not the only factor that allures people to specific cities. For many people also peace is important. That might seem as a paradox, because if people are looking for peace, they should live in countryside not in a big city, but as there are better life opportunities in the cities, people choose to leave the countryside, but they are not ready for the chaotic environment. In the biggest cities there are cars and people everywhere. There is noise, hectic lifestyle and other stressful factors. That is what most of the people doesn’t want in their lives, so they are looking for big, but yet quiet and calm cities.

Similar situation is with pollution and luck of green areas. People want cities to be sustainable, clean and green, because it ensure better health and living conditions. People are not willing to live in very polluted cities, although all the biggest, richest cities are very polluted, because of the great number of people living and working there. In most of the cases growth of economic also means growth of industries, which however leads to growth of pollution. Also here are only few green areas where to enjoy some nature, because most of the place urbanized.

People also like successfully planned cities. That means there are correct arrangement and mix of buildings and establishments, appropriate infrastructure, all kind of transportation opportunities, socialization opportunities etc. In short, people likes those cities where they can have everything they need at one place. That is why many people choose to live in smaller cities despite the economic indicators.

And lats thing that attracts people is history and culture. Not only tourists are interested in the heritage of the city. Also people who are choosing a city for living, usually think of these kind of things. It is lot more pleasant to live in the city which is world famous because of its cultural heritage. Unlike all the other factors, this is something that city either has or don’t. It can’t be created or gained within time.

So basically people want the easy life opportunities that, in most of the cases, only big cities can ensure, but they what to remain the characteristics of a countryside or small towns. People want cities to be rich, sustainable, convenient, compact and interesting. The most desirable places for living are those which can ensure all of that.

As we all know, cities have become a hot spot for climate action. The pollution level in the cities is many times higher than in rural areas, beside expansion of the cities eats up forested lands, which absorbs this pollution. It is predicted that by the time of 2050 about 86% of developed world population will live in the cities, so cities will need to become more sustainable, otherwise the huge level of greenhouse gas emissions and other kind of pollution will slowly destroy the world. Is it possible to make cities sustainable and make the urbanization less threatening to the environment?

Actually it is possible to reduce the pollution created by the cities and it is already being done in most of the cities, beside growing urbanization can be even good to the environment, because people who live in big cities drive less, use less energy, and enquirer less resources. If only city consistent with the environmentally friendly living principles, it can be truly sustainable.

The first factor which determinate if the city is sustainable or not is the road network. Urban commuters spend a lot of time stuck in traffic congestion, burning gasoline and emitting carbon dioxide. If cities could exclude that, the pollution and the carbon footprint would reduce significantly. Cities should have tree level roads, good mass transit systems and most important, convenient sidewalks and cycle paths. Focusing more on pedestrians and cyclists would get more cars off the road and that would result with less pollution caused by chaotic traffic.

Next factor that is important for sustainability is energy efficient buildings. Almost 40% of carbon dioxide emissions come from heating, cooling, and powering buildings. To avoid this, there should be good insulation of the buildings and modern, energy efficient heating and ventilation equipment. That could help cities to reduce energy consumption by 30%.

Also transportation must be environmentally friendly. Cities should choose energy efficient public transportation. For example, each of the biggest cities should have metro and streetcar lines, because electric powered transportation emits less greenhouse gas. Also buses now can be electricity powered. Cities must be innovative and think of ways how to make public transportation as environmentally friendly and available as possible.

And also sustainable city must be green. Of course, it is impossible to save forest lands if we want to build cities, but we can leave some green areas. Parks and gardens are not meant only for aesthetics. They absorb the pollution created by urban infrastructure. Sustainable city must have green areas and trees that could fight against the pollution. These areas have been exterminated, because they doesn’t bring economic contribution, but they are very important for sustainability.

Every city can be sustainable, but it requires come improvements and reorganization. If urban residents, municipalities and also countries will focus more on sustainability not only economical growth, urbanization won’t cause destruction of the planet. However, if the cities won’t become sustainable soon, there will really be some serious environmental problems that whole humanity will face with.

Cities are all about human needs and wants. Everything in them is designed and planned to make lives of the city population as easy as possible. Each spot of land can be used to create something that can make people living more convenient or generate economic growth. That is why many urban planners choose to reduce green areas and make them artificial. Although green areas really doesn’t generate exact economic growth, they are very important for cities and their populations.

First of all, green areas are needed to reduce the urban heat island effect. The flat and dark surfaces made of asphalt and concrete heats up and creates urban heat island effect. That results as urban neighborhoods becoming warmer than other areas. Also it is a factor in smog creation. As the air pollution and heat can be absorbed by trees, green areas can reduce this effect. Strategic planting of trees can even reduce summer temperatures by 1º – 5º C, so there should be small green areas integrated in the whole city network.

Of course, plants and trees can also reduce the overall air pollution in urban areas. Air pollution means emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses and also heavy metals. This kind of pollution can increase risk of certain cancers and have adverse effects on people with respiratory problems, so reduction of air pollution is very important for cities population’s health. Also negative environmental impacts from the city pollution can be reduce simply by planting some trees. Even very small green areas or few trees can make a big difference when it comes to air pollution, so there definitely should be some green spots in each city.

Green areas also have a huge role in protection of ecosystems. As forest lands and natural ecosystems reduce just because of the urbanization and creation of the cities, it is necessary to make sure biodiversity is not reducing or at least not becoming extinct. Each park has its own ecosystem and they provide natural habitats for many different animal species. It is a chance to give home to those animals which get displaced by urban sprawl.

But green areas has not only environmental and ecological meaning, but social as well. Parks are the places where city population can have some physical activities, spend their free time and relax. If all the city is totally urbanized and there are no free places, it can’t be considered as convenient place for the people. Peoples needs also include different types of relaxation and if there are no places to get that, city in not functioning right.

In short, green areas make cities and neighborhoods more attractive places for people to live and work. Although people like cities, because they are more convenient places for living, they need some rural influence as well, beside lack of plants and trees can even make living impossible. Without any vegetation there will be nothing that can absorb the pollution and produce the fresh air.

Although, in opinion of most of the people, green lifestyle and big cities doesn’t go along, because cities are the biggest cause of pollution and habitat destruction, there are some cities that are developing more environmentally friendly economies and doing everything to reduce the negative side effects of urbanization. Here is a list of the greenest and most sustainable cities in the world.

In the fifth place there is London in United Kingdom. Although London and the whole England still is associated with Industrial Revolution and great amount of pollution, this city really has become green and can be a good example for many other cities. First of all, London is planning to switch 25% of its power generation to efficient local sources and England is a home place for 10 very efficient operational offshore wind farms. Also city one one of the firsts, which introduced higher taxes to the emission spouting cars and canceled taxes for electric vehicles. By these actions London is planing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% in the next few decades.

The fourth greenest city is Vancouver. Also this might come as surprise for many people, because Vancouver is very densely populated and modern city, but it is also the cleanest city in the world. 90% of cities energies supply is produced by hydroelectric stations and the rest of the energy mostly is produced by renewable resources. It is recognized as cleanest city mostly because it has the lowest carbon dioxide emissions per capita.

In the third place is Stockholm. Actually Stockholm is quite popular with its green and sustainable ideology. It has been awarded as cleanest city in the world many times. Stockholm even has special environment program that focuses on environmentally efficient transport, buildings free of dangerous substances, sustainable energy use, sustainable use of land and water and sustainable waste treatment. Also Stockholm is focusing on reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and coming up with urban innovations to remain the modern lifestyle with less negative environmental impacts.

In the second place is Amsterdam. The first thing that comes in mind when talking about Amsterdam usually is the cycling infrastructure and that is what makes this city so green. People really are mostly using bicycles not cars. They get around the city this way and that, of course, means reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. However, the transportation is not the only way how Amsterdam think of environment. This city also is one of the leaders in renewable energy generation.

And the greenest city in the world is Copenhagen. This city really is a good example of how urban area should be planned, designed and ran. Its infrastructure is designed to be convenient to bicycling and walking rather than cars, so people really are walking and cycling instead of driving cars. Also Copenhagen has a huge offshore wind farm to produce energy from renewable resources. What is interesting, there are lot of green roofs and parks in Copenhagen to absorb the pollution which already is relatively minimal. All the other cities should take an example from Copenhagen to become more sustainable.

The world is rapidly urbanizing. Already half of the world’s population live in urban areas and it is predicted that by the time of 2050 about 86% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. As urbanization comes with many serious environmental, economical and social problems, there is an urgent need to find new ways to address challenges faced by cities and urbanites. That why scientists and urban planners cooperate to to come up with successful urban innovations, which could prevent all the potential threats. Here are some of the newest urban innovations that could really give some positive effect.

The first innovation is re-programmable space. That means one building or other urban object can be transformed and used for many different reasons. As urban populations increase dramatically, the world will need to increase its urban capacity as well. By the time of 2050 the urban space should be increased almost by half. There is no time to build new infrastructure so cities must focus on the more convenient use of existing infrastructure. For example, there can be a park made on the shopping mall’s rooftop to save the place.

Smart water management models are now already being used in many cities. These water management models use sensors in network pipes. That allows to monitor the flow of water and manage the hole water cycle in the urban area. That provides sustainable water consumption. Ecological changes negatively affects the management of freshwater resource. There is huge water loss due to leakage. We loose almost 30% of fresh water just, because of wrong management, and smart water management models could change that.

Another great urban innovation is co-generation. That means re-using wasted energy, heat and even turning pollution into resource. For example, CO2 can be used in industrial processes or even in electricity generating processes. If the all emitted CO2 could be gathered, the pollution would be reduced and there would be a lot of free, useful resources. This is very important innovation, because within the growth of urban population, biggest cities emits way too much carbon dioxide to make it possible to stop the global warming and other ecological threats. Also the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions won’t give the necessary effect anymore, so only chance is to collect the emissions and recycle them.

Smart transportation systems could reduce the usage of personal transportation and optimize the capacity of free spots in transportation. Smart transportation systems includes many different aspects, but the basic idea is to make it possible to call a transportation via smartphone to optimize public transportation roots and also to use other people personal transportation to get around. Vehicle traffics cause a waste of fuel and air pollution. If there would be a chance to get around the city cheaper, many people would probably use it and there would be less cars on the rods, which also means less traffic.

Basically, all urban innovations can reduce or totally provide serious problems caused by urbanization. As this process is only increasing, the usage and integration of these and other urban innovations are the only way how we can avoid the global problems which urbanization have brought.